The centipedes of the Maltese Archipelago (Chilopoda)

Abstract

The chilopod fauna of the Maltese Islands (Malta, Gozo, Comino) was studied from a faunistic and zoogeographic point of view. A list of the species found on these islands is given, based on recent faunistic investigations as well as on a critical assessment of the few records available in the literature. Twenty-one species are recorded to occur on the islands: 1 Scutigeromorpha, 7 Lithobiomorpha, 3 Scolopendromorpha, and 10 Geophilomorpha. Twenty species are confirmed to occur on the island of Malta, 11 on Gozo and three on Comino. The Maltese chilopod fauna mostly consists of species that are widespread in the Mediterranean islands, particularly those of the western Mediterranean. As shown in other studies on the chilopod faunas of other Mediterranean micro-insular systems, that of the Maltese Islands is mainly influenced by ecological factors rather than by paleogeographic and paleoclimatic ones. Zoogeographically the Maltese chilopod fauna is mainly Mediterranean in character, with a very limited representation of Holarctic (22%) and European (11%) species.